SAN FRANCISCO03-16'-09 7: 10 AM PST
Monday Media Mix....
CUMULUS, the Atlanta-based radio giant has $700 million of outstanding debt and it's stock has dropped to around 94 cents a share. One analyst suggests the company's problems could render actual share value at zero.
The company's economic dire straits isn't any different than other similar outlets like Citadel and Clear Channel, although it's CEO, Lew Dickey Jr. , seems to be doing quite well.
According to the Toledo Blade, Dickey, 47, was awarded an $8.5 million contract-signing bonus last fall, in the form of deferred shares, that was retroactive to the firms money-losing 2007. Just last week, he was paid a $500,000 cash bonus and 320,000 shares of common stock for his 2008 performance as CEO.
Locally, the Cumulus-owned outlets, among them, KNBR, the all-sports station, and KFOG-FM, and 107.7 "The Bone" have fared well, despite the current downward trend of revenue for cash-strapped audio media, but that may not prevent Dickey's intention of looking at ways to reduce company debt, in the form of "staff reduction" and impending layoffs at some of it's more profitable properties in markets, like San Francisco and Houston.
Here in the Bay Area, at KNBR, as reported last week by a source who works for the station, morale was termed as "awful", with revelations of some lower-tenured producers earning a paltry $9 an-hour, with limited benefits and an increased workload.
One local media analyst told me that Dickey, who recently visited SF on non-company business, is focusing on some of KNBR's highest-compensated personnel. "Anybody making over $100,000 will be 'highlighted and I'm sure he'll want to know what their contribution is.
Dickey's bottom-line radar will not be confined to merely KNBR, but his FM outlets too.
Although KNBR is the 13Th-ranked station in overall 6-plus ratings in the 4TH-ranked SF market, it's in the top five, advertiser-friendly adult-male 25-54 demo, and has popular mid-morning and afternoon-drive shows. Just last week, Ralph Barbieri, one of the stations strongest personalities, and part of the "Razor and Mr. T program", ( 3-7 PM) celebrated his 25th anniversary at the station. He is one of KNBR's highest-paid employees, as is his partner, Tom Tolbert. The show is the station's most profitable enterprise and is a staple of the Bay Area sports-talk culture in the afternoon.
Barbieri and Tolbert would seem to be pretty safe on Dickey's potential 'slash-sheet, as would be mid-morning host, Gary Radnich, but I'm told that a few prominent, behind-the-scenes workers, such as long-tenured producers and some on-air, early afternoon personnel might be on the pink-slip brigade. Stay tuned.
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Congratulations to KGO Radio, the recipient of the "talk-station" of the year award from 'Radio and Records'...NY Radio giant Don Imus announced on his program Monday morning he's been diagnosed with stage-two prostate cancer. Imus is 68....Rumors continue to circulate in Manhattan media circles that Howard Stern may be on his way out of Sirius Satellite radio and return back to terrestrial radio, as despite its temporary financial bailout by Liberty media, the long-term future of Sirius is muddled at best, given the economic climate, and Stern is known to be sensitive about his lack of traction in the traditional media landscape as subscriptions to satellite radio have decreased dramatically, due again, yes, to the worsening economy. **Another Congrats to my friend, CNN's LARRY KING, for being honored with 'R and R's'career Excellence Award, handed out at the Talk-Radio seminar in Marina Del Ray, CA.
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As more and more newspapers, and even magazines, are reportedly on the brink of disappearing, several noted news, sports, and political writers/columnists have abandoned their print work and headed straight to cable TV to find their wares as pundits and analysts. Among them, Chicago Sun-Times Jay Mariotti, who left the struggling paper last August and now appears regularly on ESPN's "Around the Horn". And Gloria Borger, a former editor/columnist for US 'News and World Report is now one of CNN's chief political analysts. Borger was also a regular on CBS' "Face the Nation". Howard Fineman is a senior political columnist at Newsweek, but is now appearing more prominently on MSNBC as their chief Washington observer/analyst
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CBS Sports will commence with it's NCAA "March Madness" as the 64-team tournament begins with coverage this Thursday through Sunday. Expect to hear a lot of terms like "the big dance", "bracketology", "#1 seed" and my worst, "dancing". Makes me yearn to hear the common sense of the late, great Al Maguire, teamed with Dick Enberg. This is CBS's 29Th straight year covering the NCAA tournament.
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KTVU-Channel 2 Update: In my laudatory comments of the great "10 o'Clock News" last week, I inadvertently omitted a few of the other very prominent contributors to the local Fox affiliates tremendous newscast, among them South bay reporter and 30-year vet, Lloyd LaCuesta, and longtime Channel 2 veteran and one of the best humorists in the biz that could give Andy Rooney a run for his money, Bob McKenzie, who's tenure at KTVU began back in 1976.
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